The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-07-02
TROUT FISHING.

trout. A trout is so beautiful. as he lies in
a game. basket. Trout always do lie when
they are in q game-basket aud when man
goes a6shing it seems to be q part of the
game to lie-in the basket--the game lies in
the-well, you all know what mean.
say have always loved trout, and one
day about FIVE years ago went after the fes
tive trout with friend Of mine from Char
levoix. We left Charlevoi1 at s A. NJ, and
went in a steam. boat to Horizons Bay, a
place on Pine Lake, at the mouth Of trout
stream called Horizons Creek. The city con-
sists of o saw. mill. now deserted, and a lime
kiln, also deserted. The inhabitants were
at that time four Indians aud lame deg
We landed at this scene Of enterprise at II
A. NJ, and started up the creek. My com
panion wore rubber boots, but | had on
shoes.
Perhaps some are not familiar with the
peculiarities Of northern Michigan trout
stream. These streams are seldom more
than foot deep and are very rapid. They
are fed by springs, and many of them, as
is the case with Horizons Creek, run two OF
three miles through woods so dense that the
sun never gets in TO light or warm them
The light is the dimmest twilight, the cur
rent very swift the woods and underbrush
so thick that nothing larger than squirrel
could penetrate them, and the brook is
crossed at all angles and in all positions by
fallen trees. Such is the home Of the north
ern Michigan trout.
Well, as soon as we two landed at the old
tumble. down wharf, we started up the creek
On we scrambled, sometimes walking on the
bank, sometimes in the brush on the edge Of
the water, and sometimes walking tree
trunks as they lay along the banks or acros:
the creek SO we scrambled along, fishing
as we went spent three fourths Of the
time loosening my hook from the brush anc
| logs. was in perfect ecstasy of delight
Every little while an intruding twig swep
across my face, or knocked my hat of
Twice caught myself in the leg with my
| fsh.hook, and once | caught my companion
in the posteriorty Of his conservativeness
was catching snags all the time, but caugh
no trout AS we plodded slowly up stream
there came little Indian, also bent upor
capturing the frisky trout. l can just SCI
that little heather now as he came along by
that creek. lie was about ten years old,
should think, bare footed, bare-headed and
bare-well, he just barely had anything OF
at all His little tunic had the sleeves gone
and his trousers were far more holy thar
Indians usually get credit for being. Hi:
fshing-tackle consisted of short stick, 9
hemp string, a common hsh-hook and his
trousers pocket full Of live grasshopers
There he came, right along behind me, and
while | broke eleven ten-cent patent flies
and got my face scratched by numerou:
briers, that little imp bagged forty-tdre'
specked beauties out of the holes and eddies
had passed Then tried to cross the
creek and started on log that was about
four feet above the water. | got about in
the center Of that log when the old rotten
bark came off and | made my Politest bow
to the world and sat down in that creek
The first thing did was to become very
wet. | believe that was about the wettes
creek | ever saw. Water which is 10 de
grees below the freezing point, running sc
swiftly it can't stop to CONCEAL, is densel
than warmer water, and that is why thi:
creek was so much wetter than other creeks
There | sat- with my face up stream, my
feet straight out in front Of me, the watel
about on level with my chin, and rushing
past at fourteen miles an hour. The little
Indian laughed merry laugh, while ny
of the sunken logs and lay for EN-, Cold
well, my teeth chartered so that it ratified al
the filings out, at loesened one eye tooth
got out of there and hurried back to tn
old wharf by the tumble-down saw mill. |
was warm here. A fierce August sun pelteC
down on those hot planks and was comfort
ing. reduced my costume to about tn
nae as worn by the little Indian and hum
myselfup to dry. Pretty soon my friend cam
long, and we ate our lunch in the shade o
the old saw.mill After little while tn,
small Indian came down there, and | pur
chased his trout for sixty cents and filled
my game basket chock- full. Then the steam
er came and we went home, and every body
praised my skill as fisherman, and 60
on a nice innocent expression of countenanc,
and keTt still
The ratriarch's Party.
The social even, of the Fourth in Ottaw,